Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Show Promise and Weaknesses in Exhibition Win
By John Porentas

Thad Matta unveiled the 2006-2007 edition of the OSU men's basketball team in an 80-57 exhibition win over Findlay University at the Value City Arena on Wednesday. He also unveiled 80% of his vaunted recruiting class.

Just one member of the "Thad Five" was on the floor for the opening tip off as OSU's starting lineup was comprised of senior Ivan Harris, junior Matt Terwilliger, senior Ron Lewis, freshman Mike Conley and junior Jamar Butler. Three other freshmen, David Lighty, Daequan Cook and Othello Hunter all saw extensive action, and all four freshmen at times impressed. The fifth and highest profile member of that class, center Greg Oden, was on the bench in street cloths as he continues to recover from surgery on his right wrist.

Returner Ron Lewis was the leading scorer for the Buckeyes with 17 points on six-of-10 shooting from the field including three-for-three from three point range. Lewis provided the scoring punch, but all four of the newcomers contributed significantly in the win.

Mike Conley Jr.
Photo by Jim Davidson

Conley logged a team-high 31 minutes as OSU's point guard and played like a veteran in his OSU debut. Conley scored 10 points and dished out a game-high seven assists against just one turnover. He also logged a steal and an offensive rebound. Conley's offense included an explosive first step he used to get to the basket for layups.

"I thought Michael was as steady as he's been. I thought he had great control of things both offensively and defensively," said OSU Head Coach Thad Matta.

Hunter logged the fewest number of minutes of all the newcomers, 19, but showed impressive athleticism while he was in the game. Playing primarily in the post, Hunter scored 11 points including several impressive dunks, pulled down four rebounds, two of them offensive, and blocked two shots. Hunter showed a level of athleticism that bodes well for the Buckeyes. He gets off the floor quickly, showed good hands and the ability to run the floor.

Cook scored 13 points in 21 minutes. He also left the distinct impression that he has all the offense it takes to make a run at leading the Buckeyes in scoring this season. Cook knocked down two-of-four from three point range and was impressive putting the ball on the floor. He also was OSU's leading rebounder with eight, four more than Hunter and Matt Terwilliger who also had four.

Lighty put nine points on the board in 24 minutes, but stood out as a defender. His on-ball defense was impressive and he also collected three rebounds.

"I thought David Lighty defensively tonight was tremendous," said Matta.

The freshmen were impressive as individuals in their debut, but the debut of the Buckeyes as an overall team left something to be desired.

"I think you can see we have a long way to go," said Matta.

Defensively, the OSU gave up too many easy baskets to the Oilers, particularly in the first half when Findlay held a 20-14 edge in scoring in the paint. An even bigger problem was the team's overall rebounding. For the game, Findlay held an overall 43-33 rebounding edge.

"This is a team that we outrebounded last year 44-29. That has to be more important to us," Matta said.

David Lighty
Photo by Jim Davidson

"We did some good things, we did some really bad things," Matta said. "From the defensive standpoint we weren't as tough and resilient as we needed to be off the ball. I thought our on the ball defense was decent.

"This game game was good for us in that we can now go back and set a practice plan for our glowing weaknesses," said Matta.

One of those weaknesses was rebounding, but Matta has an very good idea on how is going to fix that particular problem.

"I have an answer coming (to that problem)," said Matta referring to Oden and drawing a laugh.

The overall impression is that offensively, the Buckeyes will be fine. The Buckeyes looked like they could get the ball in the hoop despite having limited offensive organization at this time. Lewis and Butler and known offensive quantities,and all four of the freshmen, particularly Cook, demonstrated offensive skills.

"Offensively, we don't have a lot in. We probably didn't look as fluent as we needed to be at this particular moment. Coming in we knew it wasn't going to be pretty offensively," Matta said. "We probably have about 15 plays in out of about 100," Matta said.

Matta is concerned about his team's defense and rebounding, but thinks his team will make strides in those areas.

"They're very coachable," Matta said. "I like this team. I think they come in, work hard and get after it. I think they know we have a long way to go which makes our job (as coaches) a lot easier," Matta said.

"My biggest thing right now is we have to learn to get defensive stops and rebound the basketball," Matta said.

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